Food, Glorious Food

Whoever said that the food in London was bad must have been here many years ago.  I cannot tell you how much delicious food I’ve eaten here.  While of course I have been doing some cooking for myself, I ate out a lot when I first got here and we were doing orientation stuff.

So on Monday night, Kaija, Jimmy, and I all went to My Old Dutch.  It’s a pretty unassuming pancake shop across the street from our dorm.  All pancakes cost £5 on Monday nights! These pancakes are ginormous, and delicious.  It is an unbelievable deal.

 Additionally, they have desserts.  I had a knickerbocker glory; I saw it on the menu and just had to try it.  A kickerbocker glory is strawberry and vanilla ice cream, topped with fruit salad, topped with whipped cream, topped with a cherry and a wafer.  Ridiculous, I know. The photo documentation of this wonderful meal is included.

Now, my classes (which started yesterday!) are about an hour away from the residence hall.  I needed to find totally different eateries! And find them I did.

 For a snack in between my two theatre classes yesterday, we went to hummus bros.  IT IS AMAZING! Each entree is a bowl of hummus, and you can choose what to put on top of it! Some well-liked options include chickpeas, chicken, and mushrooms, but our goal is to try them all.  Then this morning, I had 10 AM class. I know, I’m a pansy, 10am isn’t that early.  Well, it is when you have to give yourself over an hour’s travel time, and make breakfast! Well, anyway, I was tired, so I thought I’d get a pick-me-up at Starbucks.  But before I saw a Starbucks, I saw a Caffe Nero.  People had been telling me all weekend how wonderful the coffee there is, so I decided to pop in.  While I didn’t get a coffee (chai latte w/ skim is more my style), it was indeed wonderful.  Best part? Both places have loyalty cards!

PS. Is anyone reading this? Am I just talking to myself?

The Penguin Hunt

No, I did not go hunting penguins in England.  That would be horrible.  And difficult.  What I did do was go on a tour of Eton and the castle of Windsor.  As one of our orientation activities, we all piled onto a bus and drove for an hour-ish.

When we got there, the group was split in half, and my half got the ridiculous female tour guide.  We walked into town and saw Eton.  The tour guide was explaining how the “Etonians” always wear these ridiculous high collared shirts, tails, and long black pinstriped pants.  And then a ton of Etonians came walking by us in groups.  Our tour guide laughed at us as we stared at them awkwardly, and then said, “Anyone up for a penguin hunt? We’re following them.” Which we did.  But we just needed to go up the hill to Windsor Castle.

 We all split up once we got into the town of Windsor, and I spent the day with Nikki and Leah.  We started out by finding the most adorable place to eat, the Crooked House of Windsor. It was actually crooked! Such a cute little place, and the food was wonderful.  But on our way up to the town center, we had spotted an adorable little cupcake shop.  And of course, anyone who knows me knows that I cannot resist a cupcake.  Apparently, Leah is the same way! So we journeyed to the cupcake shop, and debated for a while about what to get.

I eventually chose: The Lavendar Cupcake.  Lavendar cupcake, you say?  Who has ever heard of such a thing? Well, I have, and it was DELISH. I mean seriously, look how absolutely cute it is.  It tasted as good as it looked, I promise.  So after a food-filled break, we finally entered Windsor castle! We had more boring tour guide stuff.  The castle is the only one in Europe that started as a fortress and not a town, blah blah blah.  We went through all the state rooms; they were usper ornate and beautiful.  However, the real highlight of the day was taking pictures with the guard!  It was so funny, he didn’t speak or even acknowledge us, but we were totally excited like he was a celebrity. Classes start tomorrow, so I’m going to bed, but here is the picture that resulted from my pestering the guard.

Brushing Up My Shakespeare

Yesterday was more orientation.  I have officially joined a gym, so I swam laps and it was FABULOUS.  One of our orientation activities was extremely cool.  We took the Tube to see Big Ben and the London Eye, then went to Founder’s Arms, a bar overlooking the Thames.  It was super fun, and very chill.  We saw the Millenium Bridge (Harry Potter buffs, it’s totally great), and had a great time.

Today my roommate and I hit the gym again (I know, what is this madness?), and then went to Tesco for some necessities (hummus: totally necessary, right?).  We had a bus tour around London which ended at THE GLOBE THEATRE!!  We saw Much Ado About Nothing, and we had groundling tickets, which means we STOOD through the whole performance.  The show was fantastic – even the non-theatre people loved it.  It was totally accessible and adorably British.

Lifts, and Tubes, and FroYo, oh my!

Well, you know you’re in England when everything has a different name.  Lifts are elevators, the Tube is the subway, and froyo? Froyo still means frozen yogurt, but Snog frozen yogurt is a completely different froyo from any I’ve ever experienced.  Why did no one tell me about this stuff before?  I could eat it every day.

And I could actually eat it every day (or almost every day) because it is GOOD FOR YOU FROYO. Snog is a healthy version of froyo! This picture is a screenshot from their website (see link), explaining in their own wonderful way how wonderful the froyo is. Once my lovely roommate Kaija uploads her pictures onto facebook, it will be accompanied by a picture of me enjoying my Nature Froyo with blackberries (and white chocolate stars as a special treat).  Other toppings include most fruits, granola, almond slivers, and other healthy/delicious options.  And no, they’re not paying me to say this.

Packing, why are you so difficult?

Packing for college is a simple formula: go shopping and buy cute new things you don’t really need, shove it all into trashbags/suitcases/anything you can find, put it all in the mini van, and drive four hours up to school.  Then have your entire family help you move it all into your dorm room, and repeat yearly.

Packing for study abroad is a completely different animal, with a whole new set of challenges.  Each suitcase has a limit of 50 lbs.  And you only get two of them! And then when you get to the country of your choice, there’s no family waiting to help you carry it all (wheelie suitcases are preferable).  And did I mention the 50 lb weight limit????

 This is my clothing suitcase, pre- everything that is bulky.  Even though I’m only bringing one pair of sweatpants and one hoodie, they are bulky.  And workout clothes?  They take up a surprising amount of space.  But somehow, I got all the clothes to fit.  The second suitcase (of which I did not take a picture) is full of SHOES. And toiletries, and raincoats, and medicine. And do you know what’s awesome? BOTH SUITCASES ARE UNDER 50 LBS!! Everybody can be proud now, and lavish me with praise for my awesome packing prowess.  I have four days before I fly off to London, and I am finally starting to get ready for it!

The Start of Something New

Yes, I am aware that I just made a terrible High School Musical reference.  This blog will probably be full of references that only some people will catch.  This one was an easy starter, but we’ll see how it goes from here.

Also, I have not figured out how to “tab” yet, so paragraphs just won’t indent until I can solve that mystery. Anyway, this blog is actually about the fact that I am leaving for London in about three weeks.  How can that be possible?  A few months ago, I didn’t even think I was going to be able to go abroad, and now I have a schedule, and the beginnings of a packing list.

I am honestly trying not to think about it too much right now, because I have a little more time before I actually have to. I am planning things like trips to Six Flags, and the beach, and Vassar, and am trying to spend time with my family and friends at home before I go away.  I want to do everything once more before I go (so Thai Spice and/or Babycakes HERE I COME!).

This wasn’t exactly an uplifting blog post, and it may be the only one until I actually get to London.  My plan is to update every other day, but I know how difficult that could be.